The Jeep Renegade looked to be a strong contender. It's as stylish as its country of origin (Italy). It offers two engines, transmissions, and drivetrains. And it promises real Jeep off-road performance at an affordable price. Unfortunately the Renegade could use a little more spit and polish before it takes a serious run at SUV of the Year. The problems started on our off-road loops, which featured a rutted hill climb that simulated limited-grip situations. Although both testers had all-wheel drive, they struggled as the state of the trail deteriorated. The Renegade Latitude, equipped with a 160-hp, 1.4-liter, turbo 1-4 and six-speed manual, struggled the most. "The Latitude made it up the hill with a nice running start," Lieberman said, "but it was not pretty." Evans agreed: "I wanted to love the base engine with the stick shift and all-wheel drive, but it's so gutless, I can't. It slowed to a crawl and stalled itself with my foot on the floor trying to climb the hill. Three times." The "Trail Rated" Renegade Trailhawk with its 180-hp, 2.4-liter 1-4 and nine-speed auto didn't fare much better. "Come on, Jeep," Cammisa said. "This thing says Trail Rated and has computers that know when the front wheels are slipping, yet I have to manually hit '4x4 Lock' to make it up a hill that an AWD Honda HR-V scoots right up? Not cool!" Multiple editors had to resort to four-low, 4WD Lock, and Rock mode to reach the top.
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